Psalm 72

Psalm 72.

Let's pray as we come to God's Word together.

Lord, we indeed pray just that you would come and give your Word success.

Lord, that you would penetrate the depths of our hearts with the truth of your Word.

Lord, we want to see you afresh.

We want to know you more deeply.

God, we want to live as your image bearers in a more rich and profound way.

And Lord, we know that you have given us your Word to accomplish just that, to shape us,

to mold us, to change us, to reveal yourself to us.

Lord, it is our sufficient and sure guide.

So, Father, we pray that by your Spirit you would come and you would work in us through

your Word this morning.

For Christ's sake, amen.

Psalm 72.

Let me read this for us.

Give the King your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal Son.

May he judge your people with righteousness and your poor with justice.

Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people and the hills in righteousness.

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of

the needy and crush the oppressor.

May they fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations.

May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

In his days may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more.

May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth.

May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust.

May the kings of Tarshish and the coastlands render him tribute.

May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts.

May all kings fall down before him.

All nations serve him.

For he delivers the needy when he calls.

The poor and him who has no helper.

He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy.

From oppression and violence he redeems their life and precious is their blood in his sight.

Long may he live.

May gold of Sheba be given to him.

May prayer be made for him continually and blessings invoked for him all the day.

May there be abundance of grain in the land.

On the tops of the mountains may it wave.

May its fruit be like Lebanon.

And may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field.

May his name endure forever.

His fame continue as long as the sun.

May people be blessed in him.

All nations call him blessed.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things.

Blessed be his glorious name forever.

May the whole earth be filled with his glory.

Amen and amen.

The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Well, with that we come to the end of book two of the Psalms.

And we come to the end of our series that we've been doing this summer in book two of the Psalms called Thirsting for God.

You'll remember that way back in the beginning of the summer, if you've been with us, we began in Psalm 42.

And we heard the heart cry of the psalmist calling out, God, I'm thirsting for you.

I'm longing for you.

And we've seen that sort of journey throughout this book of the Psalms.

And finally, we come here to the end, to Psalm 72.

And what do we find?

We find a psalm for the king.

A royal psalm.

Psalm 72 is essentially a prayer that ancient Israel would pray for their king.

And my guess is that as we read this psalm today, most of us would find the idea of having a king to be a bit foreign, right?

I mean, do we really need a king?

Do we really want a king?

Of course, maybe we'd like one, but only to a point.

I mean, with, you know, little George born this summer in England, you know, those of us on the other side of the pond think, oh, you know, maybe it would be kind of fun to have a royal family.

It would add a little pomp and circumstance to public life.

It would give the entertainment magazines something to talk about with at least a shred of dignity, right?

It would give us a little more national identity.

But at the end of the day, you and I don't really want a king, do we?

I mean, a figurehead is fine, great, but not a real king, not a king with real power and authority and all that.

In fact, that whole idea just makes us a bit uncomfortable.

This week, our small group went to see the production of Julius Caesar at Edgerton Park.

And if you're familiar with that Shakespeare play, you'll remember that the whole reason, or at least one of the main reasons,

why the conspirators conspire together to assassinate Caesar is because they're afraid that he'll become a tyrant.

At least that's why Brutus does the deed.

He's the one noble one among them all.

In other words, if Caesar becomes emperor, as it looks like he will, they're afraid that they'll lose their freedom.

So they kill him.

And isn't that the same fear under most of our misgivings about giving someone authority in and over our lives?

Isn't that our misgivings about having, as we would put it, a king?

Don't we fear that such authority over us will destroy our freedom and our potential to genuinely flourish?

But if someone has rights over me, then the only option is for me to diminish as that person increases.

And yet there's a deep irony in the play.

After Caesar is assassinated, do you remember what happens?

The whole country just descends into civil war.

And the play seems to imply that the generals who end up on top in the end just might be worse tyrants than Caesar ever would have been.

And isn't there an irony in our culture too?

You know, as much as we believe that individual autonomy is the real key to happiness and to freedom,

don't we also know that our flourishing is completely bound up with the people who are in leadership over us?

I mean, think about it.

Just think of how many books are written and sold every year on management and business leadership.

Right?

You go to Amazon and you look at the shelves of leadership and they just keep going.

It's incredible.

John Maxwell has written like 4,000 books on leadership, like millions of pages on how to be a leader, right?

And I think that's because it seems that we know that the well-being of a company depends on the right functioning of its leadership.

If the leadership is bad, the company is not going to succeed.

And I think even more than that, we even harbor hopes that if we get the right leadership in place,

it won't just grow a company, but it could even heal a company.

Take the recent events at the Washington Post, for example.

Everybody knows that the newspaper industry is in trouble, right?

But when Jeff Bezos bought the Washington Post early last month, some people were thinking,

oh my goodness, maybe he'll just pull it off.

Maybe if the guy behind Amazon, the sort of genius behind sort of the digital age in some ways,

at least in making money in the digital age,

if he can get behind the Washington Post, no matter how broken the newspaper industry might be,

maybe it just stands a chance of survival.

Maybe even it could flourish.

And we know this principle is true not just in the corporate world, right?

Think about other areas too.

You know, when parents function like they should,

doesn't it bring wholeness and healing to a family?

Or when local government officials function like they should,

doesn't it bring forth the possibility of healing in a neighborhood or in a city?

It seems there's an undeniable connection between the proper functioning,

the rightness, the righteousness, if you will, of the leadership of a body

and the peace and the wholeness of that body.

So when we come to Psalm 72, and especially these first four verses of this Psalm,

and as we listen in of this prayer, into this prayer of ancient Israel for their king,

we realize that on the one hand,

what they're doing is completely in line with what we know and practice every day.

That good leaders, righteous leaders bring wholeness and healing and flourishing to their people,

so they're praying for their king to be just that.

But on the other hand, as we listen a bit more closely,

we realize that this psalm is doing something completely radical with that idea.

You see, when Israel took up this prayer for its king,

they weren't just praying for the peace and prosperity of their own little tribe

in their own little corner of the world.

You see, they were praying for a king who would be so completely fit for the task,

so completely and genuinely righteous,

that he would ultimately heal not just Israel, but the whole world.

Under the headship of this king, the needy would be provided for,

the oppressed would be delivered, the nations would be united,

and the creation itself would be renewed.

Look at verse 3.

Even the mountains and the hills are brought into prosperity.

Literally, the word there is peace, shalom, wholeness,

because of the righteousness of this king.

And of course, their kings never lived up to it, right?

Throughout the history of ancient Israel, most of their kings were weak or downright bad,

and even the good kings couldn't finally prevent the downward spiral into captivity.

And it seemed that the truly righteous king would never come,

and that might would continue to make right,

and the brokenness of the world would remain.

And yet, can't you imagine the faithful in Israel,

through all those hard and disappointing generations,

singing this song that God had given them,

hoping and longing and yearning for the day

when God would send them a true king,

to bring justice at last,

and to bring healing and wholeness to the world at last.

And isn't that deep down what we're longing for, too?

Just this week, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, right?

The 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s great,

I Have a Dream speech,

which stands not just as one of the examples of great American oratory,

but one of the most moving and stirring visions of justice

probably ever penned in our generation, our time.

And what's so moving and stirring about that moment and about that speech

is because it connects with something deep within all of us

that longs for what's broken and wrong in the world

to finally be fixed and to be put right.

That someone, somehow, some way,

would come and be able to heal what divides us

and to right what is wrong.

And of course, the truly shocking thing

is that when God's true king finally came

to inaugurate God's kingdom of righteousness and peace,

it wasn't like anything anyone had expected.

He lived in obscurity for 30 years,

and when his public ministry started,

he chose humble, common men and women to be his closest followers.

And then he started eating with tax collectors and sinners.

And he never rose an army,

and he didn't try to overthrow the Roman oppressors.

And in fact, he was rejected by the Jewish authorities

and crucified by the Romans outside of Jerusalem

and buried in a borrowed tomb.

And that would have been the end of the story.

No one would have worshipped a crucified would-be Messiah,

except that three days later, God raised him from the dead.

And in the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

God's new creation kingdom of righteousness and peace

was unleashed into the world.

The prayer of Psalm 72 finally found its traction

as God came in Christ.

And after being raised, Jesus appeared to his disciples,

instructed them for 40 days,

and commissioned them to go to the nations,

proclaiming the forgiveness of sins in his name.

And then he ascended to the Father

and sat down in majesty at the right hand of God

as king over all and poured out his Holy Spirit upon his church,

empowering them to take the good news

of the gospel of his reign to the very ends of the earth.

You see, friends, in Jesus, God's king has finally come,

that truly righteous one who can cause not just a family

and not just a city or not just a nation,

but even the whole world to flourish under his kingship.

And that means that when we read Psalm 72 today,

we're not just reading something that's merely a future hope,

but something that is a present work in progress.

The truly righteous and rightful king

now sits at the head of the universe,

and we're shown here what sort of kingdom he's bringing about.

In particular, I think we're shown three things about this kingdom,

three things that Israel prayed for and longed for,

which are now coming to pass in Christ.

So let's look at these three things briefly together.

First, in verses 5 through 7,

we see that Jesus' kingdom is an endless kingdom.

In verse 5, we're told that the fear of this king,

the reverence in all of him,

will be without end as long as time goes on,

as long as sun and moon continue their cycles,

as long as one generation follows another.

In verse 7, we're told that in his days,

the righteous will flourish and peace will abound

till moon be no more.

Which is a fancy way of saying forever and ever, right?

His kingdom is endless.

And that means that, you know,

if his kingdom is truly endless,

then it means that it will last when all else fades.

Think about it.

Throughout the course of human history,

countless kingdoms have come and gone.

And those who have lived merely for the glory

of those earthly kingdoms,

sadly have largely lived their lives in vain.

How about you, friend?

What are you living for?

And are you living for what really is going to last?

Because that which is done for Christ

and for his kingdom is not in vain.

And that means as we approach our work

for God's glory and for the love of our neighbors,

it's not in vain.

And as we seek to bear one another's burdens

in the community of faith,

though it's hard and though it takes a lot of us,

it's not in vain.

And as we seek to extend the love of Christ

to those who don't believe in word and in deed,

it's not in vain.

When we do anything for his kingdom's sake,

it will last because his kingdom will have no end.

You know, sometimes people think

that if you come to believe in the resurrection of Jesus

and if you become a Christian,

then you start to lose any motivation

that you might have to work for change

in the world here and now.

Have you run into that kind of thinking

that religion is merely an opiate for the masses,

that you sort of believe in pie in the sky

and you lose any motivation

to sort of actually work and work for change?

But you know, in the Christian worldview,

God's eventually going to renew the world,

not throw it away.

And the resurrection of Jesus

and the establishment of his kingdom

in the resurrection of Christ

is a great sign of that fact.

In fact, if you think about it,

nearly every other worldview

gives you very little motivation

to do the hard, long work

towards changing how things run

in the world as it is.

I mean, if in a handful of decades,

you're just going to turn to dust.

And if in a few hundred millennia,

the earth's just going to freeze

or be incinerated when the sun expands,

what is the point of sacrificially

giving your time and your energy

and your money and your work

to make it a better place?

You'll give to a point.

But sacrificially?

I mean, under that worldview,

isn't it all just ultimately in vain?

But not if what we're told here

about the kingdom of Christ is true.

If his kingdom will last forever,

then our longing for justice

actually makes sense.

It actually connects up

with something that is right and real.

If it's an endless kingdom

and working for it can't be in vain

and the sacrifices that we make for it

will be worth it all in the end.

Of course, we don't know ultimately

how all our labors are going to actually

come together in Christ's kingdom

when it's completed.

I ran across this illustration

a little bit ago

and I thought it was helpful.

It's sort of like the construction

of an ancient cathedral

are sort of labors for Christ's kingdom.

You know, when an ancient cathedral was built

there were hundreds,

just scads of workers

who worked on these things.

And some of them never even saw one another

as they went about cutting stone,

as they went about carving statues,

as they went about preparing timber

for the beams,

as they went about doing all the sort of work

that went into building this cathedral.

And many of them were not even sure

how their particular job,

how their particular piece

was even going to fit into

the overarching scheme.

And many of them died

before the thing was even completed.

But you see, friends,

the architect knows exactly

how it's all going to fit together.

And when it does,

it's going to be glorious.

And each part will find its place.

You see, our labor for the kingdom of Christ

is much like that.

We may not be sure how it will all fit in

and all fit together when Christ returns,

how our faithful mothering

day in and day out

is going to fit in,

or how our private prayers

morning to morning

are going to come together

in the glory of His kingdom,

or how our consistent witness

to our neighbors

is going to find its place.

But friends,

when it comes together

in the glory of His kingdom,

it will be glorious.

And another thing, you see,

if His kingdom is endless,

as we see here,

then we can be sure

that nothing is going to turn it back

and nothing is going to stop its growth.

It will go on and on.

In verse 6,

we're told that the king

will be like continual,

refreshing showers upon the earth,

bringing new life

to the dry and cracked land

and bringing new creation

to dry and bitter hearts.

Isn't that a beautiful image?

Like rain on the mown grass.

That's what His kingship is like.

Even when the meadow is cut down low

in the heat of the summer,

He comes like a rain

to soften the soil

and to keep the roots

from withering away.

He will make sure

that His kingdom endures.

So you don't need to be worrisome

and you don't need to be anxious

when you feel like

you're not sufficient for the task,

when you feel like

you've really blown it this time,

when you can't possibly see

how good could come out of the situation.

Friends, His kingdom goes forth

and it is endless

and nothing will turn it back.

So that's the first thing we see

in this psalm,

that the kingdom of Christ

will be endless,

that it's for all times.

But next the psalm turns

and shows us that

the kingdom of Christ

will be a boundless kingdom,

not just an endless kingdom,

but a boundless kingdom.

In verses 8 through 11,

we see that His kingdom

is for all nations,

that it will extend

to the ends of the earth.

And that was always God's plan

from the beginning, you know.

The prophets all foresaw a time

when the Gentiles

would come streaming in

and worship the one true God.

So it comes as no surprise

that after the resurrection,

Jesus commissions the church

to make disciples of all nations

and to be His witnesses,

not just in Jerusalem

and Judea and Samaria,

but to the ends of the earth.

And what this means

is that Jesus is the rightful king

over every nation

and over every person.

And everyone is called

to submit to Him as Lord,

regardless of nationality,

ethnicity, language, or culture.

And of course,

as we ponder that fact

at first glance,

it sounds a bit scary, doesn't it?

Well, isn't that

the sort of tyrannous rule

that we were worried about

in the first place?

This is why we assassinated Caesar,

and now you're saying

that Jesus is going to rule over everyone

without remainder?

But friends, look again.

Look again at why

the nations are shown

as willingly submitting

to this king.

In verses 12 through 14,

we're told that the nations come

for He delivers the needy.

When the needy calls,

the poor in Him has no helper.

Yes, this is a righteous king

who brings healing to the world,

and it will be without end.

But this is also

a massively compassionate king,

a king of mercy and love.

You see, the boundless nature

of His kingdom

is undergirded by the boundless nature

of His compassion.

He has rightful authority

over everyone, yes,

but you see,

His authority

is ultimately for everyone

to deliver,

to save,

to redeem,

to liberate.

This was one of the things

that Jesus' disciples

during His earthly ministry

had such a hard time grasping.

While they were on their way

to Jerusalem for the last time,

do you remember James and John

approaching Jesus

and saying,

Jesus, when you enter

into your kingdom,

let one of us sit

at your right hand

and one of us sit

at your left hand.

We want to be close

to the center of power

once you kind of come in

and do whatever you're going to do.

And we know it's probably

going to look like

a massive military coup.

But they didn't realize

that Jesus wasn't going

to Jerusalem

to stage a coup,

but to go to the cross.

And as the disciples

start bickering with one another

and getting into an argument

and getting indignant

at James and John

for getting to the,

getting to Jesus first

and asking for something

they were kind of wanting

probably to ask Jesus,

what does Jesus say?

He says,

that's how the Gentiles

lorded over their subjects.

But you see,

the Son of Man has come

not to be served,

but to serve

and to give His life

as a ransom for many.

Friends,

the present reign of Jesus

is a reign of grace.

He's come for the weak

who know they can't

rescue themselves.

And He's come for the poor

who admit that they're out

and that they're sinners.

And He's come for the helpless

who've laid down their attempts

at trying to earn God's approval.

And He's come for the oppressed

who know the weight

and gravity

of their lost condition

before God.

And through the cross,

He redeems their life.

He pays the cost

to free them

from their debt

and from their oppression

and from their tyranny

of sin

and death

and separation from God.

And why does He do this?

He does it because

He loves them.

Their blood is precious

in His sight.

He's not the sort of king

who views His subjects

as just so many

expendable pawns

in a game of conquest

as stepping stones

to His own greater glory

at their expense.

No, friends,

you are precious

in His sight

and at His own expense.

He lifts you up.

And He does whatever it takes

to redeem

and to deliver

and to save.

Do you see now

why people

from all nations

come streaming in

to worship

and to serve this king?

It's because

no other kingdom

works like this.

Every other kingdom

assigns you

your place

and your value

based on

your performance

or your usefulness

to those

who happen

to be in charge.

And when you've

outlived

your usefulness

and when your performance

falls below

the par,

you're forgotten

or you're replaced.

And many of us

still treat Christianity

as if it's all about

our moral performance.

That if I live

a good life,

then God will accept

me into His kingdom.

But isn't that

just the opposite

of what we're seeing here?

That this kingdom

is not based

on your performance

but on His performance.

Friends,

here's what we bring

to the kingdom.

We bring our weakness

and we bring our poverty

and our need

and our sin.

And what does He bring?

He brings His righteousness

and He brings His compassion

and He brings His love

and He brings His spirit

and He redeems us

and He clothes us

and He brings us in

and He grants us

a place of dignity

not because of what

we've done

but because of what

He's done for us.

And He finds you

precious in His sight

before you could do

anything good at all.

And this is why

His kingdom

has no bounds.

Because the only requirement

for entry

is admitting your need

and accepting what He's done

on your behalf.

There's no cultural requirement.

There's no ethnic requirement.

There's no moral requirement.

There's no educational requirement.

Simply the humility

to come

in repentance

and belief.

Friends,

isn't that a wonderful thing?

Show me a kingdom

that operates

on these principles.

And friends,

as you think about

entry into this kingdom,

let me ask you this morning,

is it true for you?

Have you called out

to Christ in that way?

In your need

and in your weakness

to take what only

He can give

and to know the joy

and the freedom

that comes

in receiving His redemption

and His forgiveness?

We often think

that admitting

our weakness

and our need

is a sign of failure.

That if we actually

were to open up

and to admit

that we're broken,

that our hopes

of being loved

and accepted

and of flourishing

would just go right

out the window.

And yet,

in the moment

when you call out to Him

in your weakness

and need,

He comes

and He clothes you

with His righteousness,

and His peace,

not to shame you

but to receive you

and to restore you.

And that leads us

to our last point,

that Jesus' kingdom

is not just

an endless kingdom

and it's not just

a boundless kingdom

but finally

it's a blessed kingdom.

Verses 15 through 17,

look at all the images

in this passage

that are just

overflowing

with joy.

The people come

and they gladly

bestow their gifts

on their King

and their prayers

and their blessings

and they're finding

their joy in Him.

And the King

bestows His gifts

upon His people.

He lavishes them

and loves them.

And we see something here

that's shocking.

We see here

that like an upward spiral

in His kingdom,

His greater fame

means our greater flourishing.

that these two things

are not in competition.

That as He is exalted

and loved

and as we find

our joy in Him,

that we find

our own hearts

being lifted up

and our own blessing

increasing.

Look at the images

that we're given.

The fields

and even the mountains

are covered in grain

and the cities

are flourishing

with people

who are as glad

and as beautiful

and free

as the grass

of the fields.

Friends,

this is what the gospel

can do.

Don't you see?

It can create a people

and it is creating

a people

who will blossom

in the cities

like the grass

of the fields.

Christian,

do you realize

what you've been

entered into,

what you've become

a part of

in Christ

as He's brought you

into His kingdom?

You've been ushered

into the great plan

of God

to reclaim

His creation

and to share

His joy.

It's sad

that many people

view Christianity

as a dull

and lifeless thing

when in fact

at the heart

of Christianity

is nothing but joy

and newness

of life.

Not the cheap

sort of happiness

that comes and goes

but the very

blessing

of God.

Verse 17

ends,

may people

be blessed

in Him

and all nations

call Him

blessed.

You know,

this verse

connects up

with one of the

most important

promises

in the Old Testament.

Remember,

when God

called Abraham,

He promised him

that Abraham

himself would be

blessed,

but in and through

him,

in and through

his offspring,

all the nations

of the earth

would be blessed

as well.

That is,

this curse

of sin

would be lifted

and the favor

of God

would be granted.

And what this

psalm is saying

is that this promise

of divine approval

and acceptance

that our hearts

are longing for

comes at last

through the true

offspring of Abraham

and the true

king of Israel,

Jesus Christ.

Christ,

that in Him,

the truly blessed

one,

we are truly blessed.

That darkness

is lifted

and hope

is restored

and sins

are forgiven.

And people

blossom in the cities

like the grass

or the fields.

Friends,

this is what the gospel

can do in our city

as we think

about being

the people of Christ

here in our place

and in our time

and amidst

these people

in this corner,

in this aspect

of Christ's

global and universal

reign.

Here it is

as His blessing

goes forth

in the gospel

blossoming

in the cities

like the grass

of the fields.

the gospel

is taking people

who are broken

and making them whole.

And it's taking people

who are weary

and searching

and giving them rest.

And it's taking people

who are religious

and who are proud

and are making them

soft

and humble.

This is the vision

of renewal

that comes

with knowing

Christ

as King.

This vision

of indestructible

and ever-spreading

joy.

In a moment,

we're going to go

to the Lord's Supper

together

and we're going

to celebrate

our King

at the table.

We're going to celebrate

the King

who died for us

so that He might

grant us

this joy.

We're going to

celebrate the One

whose kingdom

is for all time

and for all people

and for our

everlasting joy.

But before we do that,

just look at the last

few verses

of our psalm.

These last few verses,

most commentators say,

will bring

not just Psalm 72

to a close,

but bring this whole book

of psalms

to a close.

All of book two

comes to its

rousing conclusion

in these last few verses.

And as we've been

reflecting on Jesus'

kingdom,

isn't it a fitting way

to conclude?

May the whole earth

be filled

with His glory.

Amen

and amen.

Let's pray together.

God, this morning

as we've

entered into

this ancient prayer

of Your people

for their true

and righteous King,

Lord, we pray

that our own hearts

would grow

with a longing

to see the reign

of our Lord Jesus

grow.

Lord, as You show us

it is endless

and it is boundless

and it is blessed,

Lord, I pray

that we would be

captivated

by the scope

and by the depth

of the reign

of our Lord Jesus.

Lord, we want to live

and we want to work

and we want to rest

in the great

and loving knowledge

that we have

such a King,

a King who is righteous

and a King who is righteous

not just over us

but even for us,

that in His righteousness

we are found,

sinners that we are,

to be righteous,

to be blessed.

Lord, we thank You

for all these things.

In Christ's name,

Amen.